Light and Night
by qwerty91
Summary: A prince. A soldier. An tale of forbidden love and a great journey. LightningxNoctis.
1. Chapter 1

**Ok I was debating whether to put this in the Final Fantasy XIII or the Final Fantasy Versus XIII category and decided to put it in the Versus XIII category. Why? Why not?! No but seriously, because although this fic will have Lightning and Noctis in it, it will be set in the world of Versus. So that's why… also I haven't actually decided on a name for the fic yet so… any ideas? **

**Favisor – (dude with the scar over his eye.)**

**Vidal – (Shotgun guy.) – Courtesy of EchihaEna. (Thank you.)**

**Quinn – (Glasses guy. – means "intelligent")**

Noctis slumped in the back of the car, his head resting on his fist as the lights sped past, one after the other.

"Cheer up Noct," said Quinn who was driving the car. Noctis just glanced up and grimaced. Quinn laughed, "C'mon it's not that bad! It's not every day that you get to meet a pretty girl!"

"Alright, for a start," began Noctis, sitting up, "it IS that bad. But you're right about one thing. It's not every day that your parents decide to spring a surprise marriage in you."

"You're right," chuckled Quinn, "A – Because my parents are dead, and B – They were never really into surprises anyway!" he smiled at his own joke.

Noctis was not amused, however. "Don't try and play the pity card. I'm not in the mood!" his eyes glinted with a hint of red. Quinn, seeing this, decided to shut up.

They continued along the road for a while before Noctis spoke again. "Quinn?"

"Hmm?"

"Did they tell you her name?"

"You don't even know her name?!" asked Quinn, wide-eyed.

"No. do you?"

"Yeah right! Sorry Noct but your parents know you better than that! They know you'd ask me."

"Yeah, I know. Just thought I'd check anyway."

"Look on the bright side."

"What's that?"

"We're here. A few hours and it'll all be over…"

X X X

"Ok, you get out and I'll go park the car."

"I've got a better idea." Quinn looked worried at this. "_You _get out and _I'll _go park the car!"

"But…"

A few seconds later Quinn was left standing at the foot of the palace steps, the car speeding away, tyres smoking. He tried to spot Noctis' parents through the multitude of smartly dressed bureaucrats accompanied by stunningly beautiful women. Eventually he saw Noctis' parents at the top of the steps, welcoming all of the guests to the ball. He made his way up the stairs with heavy feet. Eventually he came to meet Noctis' parents, both of whom had quizzical expressions on their faces.

His father stood tall, his hair greying but his yellow eyes showing strength and determination. His mother a few years younger, had jet black hair, a slender figure and deep blue eyes. Whilst Noctis' father was dressed in a charcoal designer suit, his mother was dressed in a silk, crimson dress.

"Where is Noctis?"

Quinn fiddled with his tie nervously and smiled half-heartedly. "Erm… Gone to park the car?"

X X X

Noctis smiled slightly as he drove the car up to the highest level of the car park. _The higher I park the longer it'll take to walk down _he thought smugly.

He climbed out, locked the door and walked towards the stairs before he stopped. How much he'd love to get back in the car and go for a drive. He'd actually turned around before he stopped again. No. he couldn't do that to his parents. Or Quinn for that matter. He had probably already got him into enough trouble through him letting Noctis go and park the car. Not that he had much choice in the matter. With a sigh he turned back around and headed for the stairs, ignoring the lift.

X X X

Noctis' dad was frantically scanning the room when he noticed Noctis slip through the door, glancing around distastefully. He knew his son hated events such as these but what could he do? It was all part of being a prince. As he made his way through the throng of people he took two drinks off a tray, thanking the waiter as he did so. Just because he was rich and important, didn't mean he couldn't use his manners. That was one lesson that he was pretty sure he had taught Noctis. Even if all of the others had failed.

As he reached Noctis, he saw him glancing around at all of the guests. His father hid a smile as he handed him one of the drinks.

"Who is it?" Noctis asked straight away, as if trying to catch his father off-guard.

"Noctis, we've spoken about this-"

"if by that you mean you said, "Oh yeah, by the way Noctis, you're getting married! Happy Birthday!" then yeah, we've spoken about it."

His father just sighed. "It's a custom, Noctis. You get to see your future wife in about an hour. Surely you can wait that long?"

When he didn't get a reply again he just sighed again. "I'll see you later son, I've got to go and do the whole meet and greet crap." Noctis' dad hated the social side of being rich and Important as much as Noctis did. He just wished that Noctis didn't. He walked away leaving Noctis alone to ponder upon what the night would bring. He had never liked surprises.

Just as Noctis was thinking of doing a runner again Quinn turned up. "For god's sake Noctis! You're gonna get me bloody sacked one of these days!"

"I'd keep paying you to drive me around anyway."

"That's not the point!"

"Well what is?" Noctis asked, turning his attention back to Quinn.

"A… well… Oh, I don't know!" he exclaimed. "But it really doesn't pay to piss of the ruling family. And before you-"

"Who's that?"

"What?"

"Who's that?"

"Oh well, it's nice to see you're taking the blindest bit of notice."

"Quinn! Who's that?"

Quinn turned around, searching for who Noctis was talking about. Across the room he spotted a beautiful young woman talking to an elderly man with long grey hair. Quinn was about to make a joke about Noctis not getting his hopes up when he realised that he wasn't taking any notice. He stood, staring at the young woman. She had voluminous, strawberry pink hair which fell down her back and full red lips which, at that moment were formed into a smile, displaying perfect white teeth. She wore a graceful black dress that showed her slender figure.

Quinn made a whistling noise as he waved his hand in front of Noctis' face. "Hello? Anybody there? Planet Earth to Noctis!"

He frowned as Noctis completely ignored him and started walking towards the woman.

"Whoa!" said Quinn as he stepped in front of Noctis, blocking his way, "Big no, no! Where do you think you're going?"

"Move!" grunted Noctis in reply as he frantically tried to push past. The woman seemed to be coming to the end of her conversation with the old man and was moving on. "_Move," _repeated Noctis, shoving Quinn to the side, causing a few people nearby to stare. As he dashed towards the doorway where the woman had disappeared he was oblivious to the mutterings of the crowd around him. As he ran around the corner he ran straight into a slightly smaller woman coming the other way, knocking her down to the ground. He saw that the other woman was nowhere nearby and knelt down to help her up. The first thing that he noticed was that she, too, was extremely pretty.

"I'm very sorry," mumbled Noctis sincerely. "I didn't see you."

"that's ok" she replied in a soft voice," I wasn't watching where I was going either." She stood up with the help of Noctis and brushed herself down. She was wearing a light cream dress. "My name's Stella," she said, holding out her hand. Noctis took it, "Noctis," he said simply.

"Ahh, the prince!" she said with a smile.

Noctis grunted in reply. "sorry again," he said as he saw Vidal rushing towards him.

"no problem," she replied with a smile. She watched him walk away then sighed. "so, he doesn't remember me after all…"

X X X

"Noctis!"

Noctis spun around at the sound of his name being called. "bloody hell, mate. I've been looking for you for ages!" gasped Vidal, jogging up to him.

"What's wrong?" asked Noctis.

"What's wrong?! What's right, more like! You were supposed to meet your mum and dad, like ten minutes ago you fool! What have you been doing?"

"Have you seen her?"

"Who?!" asked Vidal, clearly exasperated at this point.

"Never mind."

Just as they were about to leave, someone came up to them. "excuse me?" Noctis turned around to see a small, red haired girl in a pink dress. "I was wondering if you'd seen my friend? Black dress? Strawberry pink hair? Goes by the name of -"

"Noctis!! For Christ's sake! Get a bloody move on!"

Vidal marched over and grabbed Noctis by the arm. "Wait!" cried Noctis turning around to look for the girl but she had already gone.

X X X

"There you are Noctis!" cried his mother as he walked into the room, accompanied by Vidal

They had been waiting in the room with Noctis' parents for around ten minutes when there was a soft knock at the door. A servant entered, "they will be here shortly sir." Noctis' father thanked him and the servant left. Shortly after there was another knock and Favisor, Quinn and Vidal were ushered in. Vidal winked at Noctis as he took his seat by the fireplace.

A few minutes later there was another knock. "They are here."

Noctis stepped forward to stand next to his mother. He wiped a bead of sweat away from his forehead and heard Vidal stifle a chuckle. He made a mental note to hit him next time he saw him.

**Hahahaha! I am soo evil!! Is it Lightning? Is it Stella? Is it Vanille? Or is it a servant?! You're gonna have to wait to find out!**

**I'd usually take this as an opportunity to sat a big wholehearted thank you to everyone who has reviewed but as this is the first chapter - that's kinda not possible! I would like to say thank you to EVERYONE over at the FF13 forums for the support, laughs,serious discussions and for just being there! You guys are the best!**

**Thanks to Yuki (Lightning and Noctis – or whatever you're penname is at the moment, you change it so often!) for all of the her this story probably wouldn't be here. So if you don't like it blame her, not me! ********.**

**Thanks to EchihaEna for letting me use the name Vidal for the shot-gun guy. and again for the support.**

**Thanks to Anime, stardrag, and Cassie(who, between them, hold the title for the most talkative people EVER!) for… well… being talkative! Their stories are amazing and so if you haven't read them I refuse to speak to you until you go and read them. Now.**

**Thanks to SunflowerWielder, WhimsicalWalrus and ff7versus7ff for the reviews that help me to update. If you're reading this and wondering what the hell I'm talking about then go and find them, read their stories and REVIEW!**

**Phew that was a right rambling session! Until next time… (P.S. **_**please **_**review!)**

**Qwerty91**

…


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's chapter 2 and you get to see who the mystery fiancée is! I know no-one's gonna read this as you'll just skip to the story to see who it is so I'll just shut up now.**

Noctis gasped as the door opened revealing his fiancée. His mother looked at him in expectation, a smile planted on her face. Her father stepped forward and took Noctis' mother's hand, bringing it to his lips.

X X X

She dashed through the corridors. Whenever she came across people she slowed to a quick walk, so as to not bring attention to herself. A few heads turned and she cursed. _Careless! _She turnedher head away from them. That way no-one would recognize her. As she came to another open corridor she sprinted down it towards a door at the end which was guarded by two guards in armour.

"You don't mind if I…" she motioned towards the door. "Thank you," she said to the guard who had a spear protruding from his chest. She pushed open the door to find Snow Villiers and Oerba Dia Vanille perched upon a heavy metal trunk.

"You took you time," greeted Snow loosening his tie from around his neck. He was dressed like the rest of the business men at the ball. Vanille was still wearing her pink dress.

"I took as long as I needed to," she replied in a cold voice. Snow held up his hands in defeat. "Alright, I was just making conversation!"

"Well don't bother."

Vanille stood up and handed Lightning a small package wrapped in brown paper.

"Are the rest of them set up?" she asked the girl, who was chewing her bottom lip anxiously.

"Yep… Lightning are you _sure _that this is the right thing to do?"

"Vanille. It is our mission. Of course this is the right thing to do." Her voice held no hesitation. She managed to keep it out of her voice. Her mind was a different story.

Was this the right thing to do? Was she the right person to do it?

"Are they all linked?" she asked Snow.

"Yeah," he replied running his hand through his hair, "Ten minutes should be enough."

"O.K. Vanille can you set the timer."

Normally Vanille would reply with a sarcastic comment, but today she was not her usual bubbly self. People were going to die.

X X X

Noctis walked through the corridors with Stella. "You still don't remember me do you?" she asked him with a sad smile. He looked at her sideways. "Erm, should I?"

"Stella Nox Fleuret," she said hopefully.

_She was running through the corridors laughing. She was in front, Noctis was following closely behind. He was laughing. Suddenly she skidded to a halt in front of an official that had just appeared through a door. The man looked sternly at her then saw Noctis, who had a defiant look on his face. He gave a strained smile and continued on his way. Stella looked up at Noctis, who was slightly taller, a smiled sheepishly. _

Noctis saw Stella stood in front of him, looking concerned. He realised that he had stopped.

"Noctis?" said Stella hesitantly, "are you OK?"

He didn't reply at first but continued to stare at her. She looked down, blushing under his unwavering eyes.

Eventually his gaze softened and he, too looked down at the floor. "I am sorry," he replied, "I did not realise."

She looked up and smiled. Noctis turned away and continued walking down the corridor.

X X X

"Is it set?" Lightning asked Vanille.

"Yeah…" she replied faintly, wiping her hands on a dirty cloth by her feet, "set for 10 minutes."

"Then let's go!" cried Snow, leaping to his feet and grabbing Vanille's hand, tugging her along with him. Lightning rolled her eyes and followed them. "Remember," she reminded them in a hushed voice, "don't run whatever you do. No suspicion! Snow! Slow down goddammit!"

He slowed down to something that can only be described as a quick jog. Lightning reached out and grabbed his hand, stopping him dead.

"Listen to me, you bloody idiot," she hissed, "if you don't stop running you _will _die! We need to get away _unnoticed, _do you understand?"

Snow sighed in response and lowered his voice to barely a whisper. "I promised her parents that I would look after her. Now to me that doesn't exactly involve leading her through a building that's about to blow up!"

"she had a choice, Snow," said Lightning, her voice softening slightly, "she's older now. She's got to learn that. And so have you."

"_Guys!!"_ yelped Vanille, reappearing from around the corner. "Come _on_!"

X X X

"You knew!" yelled Noctis, his finger pointing accusingly, inches from his father's face. "You knew, you lying bastard!"

"Don't you-"

"SHUT UP!! Don't give me that _shit!"_

"Noctis… please…" murmured Stella from behind him, "please."

"Noctis, we-"

"Shut _up!" _Noctis stormed over to the window and he leaned on the sill, looking out into the night. His voice became deadly quiet. "You knew and you didn't tell me." He turned around to face his father. "How could you," he asked simply.

His father had no reply.

X X X

"What was that?" asked Lightning, freezing.

"What?" asked Snow.

"_That!" _she replied, the colour draining from her face.

There was a distant rumbling from behind them which was growing louder and louder.

"Oh f-!"

"Run…" whispered Lightning.

"What?"

"RUN FOR GODS SAKE!" she screamed, sprinting down the corridor. Snow scooped up Vanille into his arms amid a cry of protest and followed.

X X X

"N-Noctis?"

"Just leave me alone for a minute. Please."

"Noctis! What's that noise?!"

Noctis head rose as he listened to the slight rumbling noise coming from somewhere within the castle. His eyes narrowed as he strode towards the door, throwing it open. Immediately the rumbling grew louder.

"What is it?" asked Stella fearfully.

"An explosion," replied Noctis calmly. "Lots of explosions," he corrected himself.

He grabbed Stella's hand and began to run, Stella struggling to keep up. For a strange moment he was reminded of the memory earlier with him and Stella running through the corridors of the castle. He shook off the thought and put on a burst of speed. He was literally dragging Stella behind him now. He heard her sharp intake of breath before he felt his grip on her hand loosen. He spun back around to help her up and stopped dead, staring at the tunnel of flame speeding down the corridor…

**PHWOAR! That was a bit action packed wasn't it? I know that I said I would alternate between this fic and my other fic Final Fantasy Versus XIII, but I really wanted to put this up! Also I thought that I had been a bit cruel leaving you not knowing who the fiancée was! I know it looks like this is a NoctisxStella fic at the moment but I promise you it's not! Thanks to everyone who reviewed last time;**

**KisaraCrystal** – I hope this was fast enough for you? I'm glad that you enjoyed the first chapter!

**TwlightThorn** – again I hope this is quick enough for you! What do you mean Uh oh? You love reading lots of different stories really!

**Vicis est Eternus** – omg where shall I start? Ok – I got my penname from the first 6 letters of the keyboard, sorry for leaving it on the mother of all cliffhangers, yes you are that talkative, I'm trying to make Stella interesting so that all those Stella haters see a different side to her (I'm kinda indifferent tbh.) As for the parents – watch this space!

**Lightning and Noctis** – are you proud? I'm using your proper penname! And you don't hate me! You just say you do! Snow and his buddies are in here (I think their group is called Team Nora actually) thanks for the review! Love you!!!

**SunflowerWielder** – I love you too! I'm glad it cheered you up!


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm updating quicker than usual (honestly this is quick for me!) because soon I'm not gonna be able to update for 2 weeks! Holidays! **

"Fuck!"

Noctis leapt back towards Stella as the flames drew nearer, lifted her over his shoulder and began to sprint as fast as he could. He could feel the heat behind him as he ran, urging him on faster. He heard Stella moan and put on another burst of speed, willing his exhausted legs to pump harder.

He saw through his watering eyes a turning up ahead. As he reached it he skidded around the corner, slamming into the wall, but kept on running. A second later he realised where he was. On the corridor which held nothing but a storage cupboard. And a dead end. Noctis didn't stop running until he reached the door. He tried the handle to find that it was locked. He was about to kick the door in when he froze. He felt another rumbling under his feet. _This has gone far enough already _he decided. He ran to the end of the corridor and, without breaking stride, put his foot through the window at the end. It shattered, leaving a gaping hole, which Noctis proceeded to stick his head through. He could see the guests of the ball down below running from the building. Many were being carried, much like Stella. Noctis placed her on the floor and knelt down next to her. Her eyes were barely open and she was coughing from all of the smoke.

"Stella, can you hear me?" he yelled over the roaring of the fire and the rumbling of the building as it slowly disintegrated into rubble. "I'm going to jump. You have to hold on to me. Do you understand?" He didn't know if she was conscious let alone if she could understand what the hell he was saying. He picked her up again anyway and thought that he felt her grab his jacket loosely. Well it was better than nothing.

He clambered up onto the windowsill and leant forward slightly. They were three stories high and he could feel the wind tugging gently. It was either this or get burnt alive. He knew which he'd rather choose. And Stella wasn't really in any position to make a choice. With a deep breath he let himself tip over the edge.

Snow burst out of the front doors of the palace, closely followed by Lightning. Immediately people converged on them, attempting to help them if they were wounded. Snow shrugged them off and continued to walk through the crowd. He grew irritated when another group tried to help him.

"Try taking Vanille off your back."

Snow grunted and set Vanille on her feet gently. She stood, frozen in horror, looking around her. Lightning, seeing her eyes well up with tears, took her hand gently and led her through the crowd. She was careful to avoid those people with more serious injuries. Vanille was too shocked to notice that Lightning was taking a roundabout route. Snow kept switching which side he was walking on in an attempt to block Vanille's sight to the more injured people that were unavoidable. As they came to the end of the crowd there was a collective gasp. Vanille stopped and looked to where people were pointing. In a third story window there was a figure, silhouetted against the raging flames. They were preparing to jump.

"Vanille, we need to go. The News teams will be here any minute. Vanille?" she just stood there until she saw the man slowly tip forwards. Then she ran back into the crowd.

"Vanille!"

X X X

His body screamed at him to close his eyes but he couldn't as he spun out of control. He tried to tuck himself into a ball, but the drag of the fall prevented him from doing so. He regretted not preparing more as a second later he smashed into the roof of a car. He did manage to roll with the impact, rolling off the battered car roof and hitting the tarmac. The last thought he had before he lost consciousness was that he had hit the car with Stella on top.

X X X

His eyes fluttered open to see a girl hovering over him. He couldn't see properly but he guessed that she was female from the sweet flowery smell. A part of his brain told him that the only reason that he was concentrating on her smell was to keep his mind of the pain. As soon as he realised this the pain hit him like a chocobo on steroids.

The girl appeared to be arguing with someone.

_What so I'm just supposed to leave him am I?!_

_No – well yes! We've got to go!_

_No! We've caused enough damage! I refuse to leave until I've done at least one thing to sort this mess out!_

_Lightning can we not spare just five minutes? Let her sort this dude out then we'll go._

His eyes fluttered open again slightly and he saw the girl twist around to a bag at her side. She brought out a vial of bright green liquid and put it to his lips. It was icy cold and he tried to turn his head away but was held still with a gentle hand. He heard the girl sigh and remove the bottle from his lips. She then placed a hand on his chest.

"Vanille! Careful!"

A faint white light emanated from her hand and spread throughout his entire body. He could feel his muscles growing warmer until he could slightly move. After a few seconds he could move again but stayed lying down. _She must be from Pulse!_

"I did it Snow!"

"Yeah that's great and all that but we… erm… _people are watching!" _he finished in a whisper.

Vanille glanced up to see dozens of people staring, open-mouthed. The smile fell from her face as she slowly rose to her feet, slightly crouched, like a trapped animal.

"_Lets go_" hissed Snow grabbing her hand.

_Wait…_

Vanille looked down to see Noctis attempting to sit up. She knelt down again, ignoring Snow's exasperated sigh.

"Who are you?"

She frowned. "Vanille," she whispered.

"No… You and your friends…"

Her eyes widened and she stood up abruptly. He grabbed her hand and she shook it free. She dashed past Snow casting him a worried look and he followed. The crowd parted, deathly silent. Their eyes never left Vanille. Snow glared angrily at anyone he saw looking at her. They quickly averted their eyes.

Noctis sat up, leaning against the battered car.

_Who were they?_

**I thought it would be too cruel to leave you on a cliff hanger for two weeks. I'm not that evil!**

**This chapter was inspired by two scenes in the Bond film Casino Royale (I was atching it while writing this. The original chapter was nothing like this!)**

**Thanks go to my lovely reviewers as usual!**

**Lightning and Noctis – **Yeah Snow's a bit over protective of Vanille! Can you tell? And yeah I know it sucks that Stella is his fiancée but its all part of my **Masterplan!**

**SunflowerWielder – **Everyone loves a bit of action! Not sure which is worse though… Noctis being pissed off or an explosion!!

**KisaraCrystal – **Hope I spelt that right? I'm glad you enjoyed it but enough of the squealing already!

**Animangame02Freak - ***laughs* you never give up with the OC love do you? The other day I voted on your poll but didn't see EliaxNoctis : ( I only voted for one aswell. I'm so stupid!

**TwilightThorn **– I'm keeping my promise about alternating! Kind of! And I have to keep introducing new mysteries or you'll get bored!

**Vicis Est Eternus –Cassandra-** - Bloody hell that's a mouthful! As for the BOOM! I tried to put one in afterwards but it just didn't fit anywhere! Sorry!

**Thanks again to everyone who's sticking with me! See you in 2 weeks. The day I'm back is my 18****th**** birthday! WOOT!**

**Qwerty91**

…


	4. Chapter 4

**I just want to say that this chapter does contain a lot of strong language. A LOT! Not because it's "cool" or whatever. But because the characters are people. And people aren't perfect. Also sorry to everyone who has added this to their favourites or their alert list. Sorry it's taken such a long time to update! Tough times and all that!**

"Well that was a complete fuck up!"

Lightning strode through the door, her cape billowing behind her, in her wake. Snow followed, carrying Vanille over his shoulder.

"Snow! I can walk! Put me down!"

"Ye-"

"JUST DO IT!" Lightning yelled, spinning around, "put her the _fuck _down!"

She began pacing like a caged animal as Snow wordlessly set Vanille to her feet. She poked him in the stomach and threw herself down onto the sofa.

Snow tentatively stepped closer to Lightning. "Lightning? Y'know it's not our fault-"

"Not our fault?! Whose fault is it then?"

"We had a job to do."

Lightning laughed but there was no humour in it. "A job? You can't be serious." Her voice had been raised but now it was deadly quiet. "If our job is killing innocent people then I fucking quit, alright?"

"You can't. You know that…"

Lightning grabbed the front of Snows jacket, spun him around and slammed him against the wall. Again, her voice was even quieter.

"_You think I don't fucking know that?"_ she hissed into his ear. "You don't fucking think I know that we're slaves?"

"Technically we're servants." Quipped Vanille.

She was ignored.

"If you think that this is a "job" then you need your head looking at!"

Snow couldn't take it any longer. "_I _need _my _head looking at?! Listen to yourself you crazy bi-!"

Lightning punched him in the face. She was trembling with rage as she leant closer. "Don't you _ever _say that again. Or I will fucking kill you. I suppose you think its hilarious that I don't remember a single thing?"

"No. Look, I'm sorry…. I…. heat of the moment…"

She leant even closer so that her lips were almost touching his ear. "Say that again and you will die. Understood?"

"Lightning… that's enough." Lebreau was stood in the doorway.

Lightning stopped and slowly let go of Snows jacket. She turned her head to face Lebreau. "Don't _you _tell _me_ when it's enough or not._ I'll_ tell _you _what's enough – killing innocent people."

Snow opened his mouth to speak but was silenced by a sharp shake of the head by Lebreau.

Lightning stepped away from him, glaring at Lebreau as she did so. She headed towards the door and stopped. Without looking at her she said, "Oh and Lebreau? If I want your opinion, I'll ask for it. So I wouldn't bother holding your breath if I were you."

She walked out slamming the door behind her. Vanille yawned.

"How can you just sit through that?" Snow asked her, rubbing his face.

"Dunno. She's lovely really! She's like a bear. Cuddly, but if you piss her off, she rips your eyes out!" she smiled.

"Yeah….ok…."

Gadot walked into the room, rubbing his shoulder. "Jesus! Who forgot to take their happy pills this morning? What's her problem?"

"The job we did," replied Snow, shortly.

"Oh."

"But why does she over react so much?"

"You know Lightning… she doesn't fail… she doesn't know the word "fail". She's never had to use it all that much!"

Snow stood up and Gadot threw the rifle to him.

"I'll go on guard duty if you want Snow!!"

"No Vanille. I've already told you."

"Oh come on! You're such a spoil sport"

He leaned closer. "That's exactly why you aren't allowed – you think it's a game."

Vanilla crossed her arms and stuck her bottom lip out.

"See you later," laughed Snow, ruffling her hair.

"Not if I see you first!" Vanille replied, cocking an imaginary gun.

"C'mon Gadot you can help with dinner," Lebreau sighed, "Gadot?"

He had thrown himself on the sofa and seemed to be snoring.

"Don't worry I'll help instead," laughed Vanille, throwing a cushion at Gadot.

They stood for a while in a companionable silence.

"Actually I had better clean you up first. Cuts and bruises everywhere!"

"Yeah ok."

"You need to cover your legs up a little, young lady!"

Vanille snorted, "that's rich, coming from you!"

"Yeah well, you're still young."

"I'm 17!"

"Yes," replied Lebreau staring into space, "…all grown up…"

"Oh please! Shuddup you old fogey!"

. . .

"Vanille?"

"Yeah?"

"What do you think about what happened today?"

Vanille kept her eyes down as she said, "it shouldn't have happened. Snow was right. It was a mistake."

"But what if the only way to free the people of Pulse is to take down the Caelum government?"

"Then maybe it's the wrong way…" she looked up. "Maybe it's better this way?"

Lebreau just looked at her.

"Maybe…" she replied softly.

…

"Lebreau?"

"Hm?"

"…y'know that guy?"

"Hm"

"He looked at me weird…"

"Hm"

"Can you say anything other than "Hm"?"

"Hm"

Vanille laughed, "Alright be that way! I'll just shut up."

"No, c'mon. Tell me!" laughed Lebreau, "You mean the guy that you helped?"

"Only if you be serious!" Vanille replied. "Yes, him…"

Lebreau pulled a serious face and crossed her arms.

"Right, its just y'know… he looked at me weird…. Like he knew what I was doing…like he could see…it." She glanced up at Lebreau to see her reaction and was surprised to see her smiling.

"Vanille…. I don't think that anyone like that would be at a palace ball…. They wouldn't allow it."

"Yeah…. I suppose….there's something else…"

"You've got a crush on him? Was he handsome? Tall? Dark eyes and all that?"

"NO! Shuddup! Listen to me"

"What was his hair like?"

"Lebreau just SHUT UP!"

Lebreau stopped. "Hey…. I was only kidding…. You know what I'm like. I just want you to find a guy… y'know."

Vanille walked away and sat down. Lebreau followed her and perched herself on the arm of the chair.

"It's not like that. That's not the problem. He…."

"What? What did he do? Vanille"

"I think it was the prince…"

"WHAT?! What the-"

Lebreau stood up so suddenly the chair rocked.

"Are you sure? Did it look like the- Wait! It can't have been!" she laughed.

"Um…"

"Because if it had been him…. Lightning and Snow would have recognised him!"

"Yeah but-"

"So if they didn't then it can't have been-"

"It was."

Lebreau looked at Vanille and frowned. "How can you tell? All the evidence points against it…"

"I just…" she closed her eyes, "I can just tell."

"C'mon Vanille… you can stop now. It was a good joke but that's enough"

"I'm not joking."

"Yeah because if you were, it wouldn't be funny!" Marquis laughed.

They both turned around to see an oil covered Marqui standing in the middle of the room.

"Get. Out. Of. My. Living. Room. With. Oil. All. Over. You."

"it's onl-"

"NOW!"

Marqui jumped and dashed upstairs. "Yes mum!" he shouted from the safety of the stairs.

Her response was a muffled, "Don't be sarcastic!"

Lebreau sighed. "Get up!" she said to Gadot.

He rolled onto the floor. "I've been working all day!"

"If by all day, you mean 3 hours of sleeping outside then yeah!"

She shook her head. "Vanille, can you go and see if Snow wants some food for me?"

She watched Vanille walk out of the room and then turned to Gadot. "So what do you think?"

"About what?"

"Don't pretend you were asleep because I'm letting it go. For now."

"It's messed up if you ask me!" he showed no signs that he was at all embarrassed at being found out.

"Yes but do you think she's right?"

"Are you kidding? When has that kid ever been _wrong?"_

They sat in silence.

Vanille and a now cleaner Marqui walked in laughing.

"So I'm like your mum huh?" Lebreau asked him, her eyebrows raised.

"You are kinda like our mum," giggled Vanille.

"Yeah and Gadot is like the crazy ass uncle!" confirmed Marqui.

They all laughed and began eating in silence. After a while Gadot grinned.

"Y'know? I could _be _a crazy ass uncle!"

"What the hell, Gadot?! That ended 5 minutes ago!"

Their laughter was interrupted by the door slamming open. Lightning stalked in followed by Sazh and Snow. She snatched up the TV remote.

"Oh good," murmured Gadot, "happy time…"

Lightning turned on the TV, flicked it to the news channel and then threw the remote at Gadot's head. He caught it just before it hit him.

"Try and find a channel that isn't playing this same footage!" she told him.

"What?"

"Go on! Try it!"

He flicked through and every channel displayed the same story;

**PRINCE RECOVERS AS PARENTS FIGHT FOR THEIR LIFE!**

"Oh Fuck."

**Why does Microsoft Word always change Vanille into Vanilla!?**

**I wrote this months ago….. It was a different version then though – Snow and Lebreau were paired but now that the info on Serah has been released I decided against it. Also there wasn't as much "normal" family life included. But I wanted to include this to create a contrast and show Lightning's sense of desperation and… y'know….**

**Wow! That was a bit deep for me! I may have to write a stupid One shot to compensate for the seriousness! For anyone who has read my One shot **_**Noctis the Skirt Chaser **_**I'm working on a sequel! (kind of a sequel…) so that should be fun! Its about Lightning this time!**

**Obviously I would like to thank my beautiful reviewers! (With the exception of a few – they're just plain fugly! You know who you are!) Seriously though thanks guys!!! You make it all worthwhile.**

**So let me know what you think! If you like it - great. If you don't like it -great! If it makes you want to throw eggs at me - get lost!**

**But your opinions really matter to me.**

**Thanks again and see you next time (hopefully!)**

…

**Qwerty91**

**(AKA FLOWA POWA… thanks SunflowerWielder)**


	5. Chapter 5

**So this is going to be another crappy, boring chapter like the last one I'm afraid. Sorry but it is pretty essential…. The next chapter should be more exciting! Oh wait…. No…. it won't…. but the one after that will definitely be!!! So stick with it. Anyway… time to dish out some more pain to Snow via that lovely bundle of suppressed anger – Lightning!**

"What are we going to do….?"

There was a silence throughout the room.

"I said-"

"We heard you! How the hell do I know?"

"Well we can't just sit here!"

"So what would you like to do smartass?!"

"_Guys…."_

""I don't know! But we've got to do something haven't we?!"

"Well clearly genius!"

"_Guys…?"_

"Well I don't see you-"

"GUYS!!"

Lightning and Gadot stopped arguing, inches from each other, Lightning with her fist clenched by her side.

"You need to see this…." said Vanille, trembling.

They turned to the television set and watched. There was footage of the news crew dashing towards the palace. Straight away Lightning dropped onto the couch, head in hands.

"Ah fuck."

"What?" asked Snow, "what? We know they went…"

Lightning didn't answer she merely reached for the television remote and paused the footage. Snow stood squinting at the screen for a while until his eyes widened in horror. "Oh no"

Frozen in the top right hand corner screen was Vanille, crouching over the man she had saved, her shock of red hair shining like a beacon.

Noctis' eyes flickered open to see Stella sitting in the chair by his bedside. She had one arm in a sling and there was a scrape on her jaw but, other than that, she seemed to be fine. He watched her sleep for a while, her hair shifting slightly in time with her breathing. She was beautiful, he had to admit. But he would always see her as the little girl, running around laughing.

He tried to sit up and swore when his ribs erupted in pain. Panting, he managed to ease himself into a sitting position. He looked around and realised he was in an unfamiliar room, the décor drab and uninviting. He then started to examine himself. He felt his face and and the pain told him that he was a mess. Then he felt his ribs, which were bound with bandages. No surprises there – at least two broken. Then he lifted the covers and winced at what he saw. "Ouch," he thought.

"You'll recover," said a voice to his right. He immediately dropped the covers, blushing. He wondered why. She was his future wife. She was going to see it all eventually. For some reason this thought didn't fill him with joy.

It wasn't as though she wasn't attractive. And from what he remembered she had been fun. And kind. And generous. And all that crap. But…. His mind kept flitting back to the woman with pink hair. He didn't even know her. It was ridiculous, he knew that…. But he couldn't help it.

"Noctis? How are you feeling?"

He shook his head and immediately wished he hadn't. With his eyes clenched tightly shut he murmured, "I'm fine… thank you."

They sat in silence for a while until Stella spoke. "The doctor said that he was going to come back later…"

There was silence.

"He said you are recovering at a very quick rate…"

Again, silence.

"Noctis I -"

"You're not telling me something."

Stella dropped her eyes.

"Look at me…. What aren't you telling me?"

He was surprised to find that her eyes were filled with sorrow.

She put her hand on his and a single tear drop fell. "It's your parents Noctis," she said in a hoarse voice, "…they didn't make it."

**. . .**

"We have to go now."

"But-"

"No arguing! Do you think it'll take long for them to find us?! Because if you do you're even stupider than you look and I didn't think that was possible!"

Snow sighed. "Insulting me won't make the problem go away."

"No," replied Lightning, loading her gunblade, "But it makes me feel so much better."

**. . .**

"We're leaving in ten minutes."

"Lightning we can't just leave. We have to do this! We can't just abandon our posts."

"You think I give a fuck? If it's a choice between getting killed or losing a bit of honour then I know what I choose."

Snow sighed again. "It's not that simple and you know it! We can't! We just physically can't!"

Lightning stopped what she was doing and turned to face him. "Snow… I don't think you understand…. We. Don't. Stand. A. Chance."

"But we don't stand a chance if we go against the crystal!"

"_Keep your fucking mouth shut!"_

Snow backed away and held his hands up. "Alright! Alright! I'm sorry. I don't understand why we can't even say-"

He was stopped with a punch to the jaw.

"ARGH. _FUCK! _ Why the hell did you do that you stupid cow!?"

"_I've told you. Don't. Say. The. Fucking. Name!"_

"Why though?" Snow asked. "Why is it so bad to say-" he stopped himself with the help of a warning glare from Lightning.

"They have eyes and ears everywhere," she said simply.

Snow scoffed. "Yeah. Right… but that's just a… y'know…y'know?"

Lightning just raised her eyebrow. "Oh yes. I _know."_

**. . .**

"Noctis?"

He sat, unmoving in bed staring lifelessly ahead.

Stella put her hand on his but he pulled away sharply. She dropped her head and spoke quietly. "They said that they died peacefully…"

Noctis snorted. "Peacefully?! Are you fucking joking? They were in a burning building!"

"Yeah."

"You honestly think they died peacefully?!"

"Noctis!"

He had swung his legs to the side of the bed and was attempting to stiffly clamber out, grimacing as his ribs exploded in pain once again. He wrapped the sheets around his waist and started to hobble towards the door. Stella dashed towards him and grabbed his arm, "Noctis wait! You have to rest!" He ignored her and continued on his way to the door. He was about two metres from the door when the doctor walked in. Upon seeing Noctis he froze, a look of bewilderment on his face, a bottle of pills in his right hand. Without stopping Noctis limped past, taking the pills as he did so.

"Thanks," he grunted.

**. . .**

"It's left here."

"Are you sure?"

"No, I just thought I'd tell you to go the wrong way for kicks!"

"Alright I was only asking…"

They continued driving along in silence, Snow driving, Lightning in the front passenger seat with her gunblade resting on her knees, her foot twitching impatiently. Vanille was sat in the back, twirling her finger around a strand of hair absentmindedly.

"Where are we going?"

"Pulse," Snow sighed.

Lightning shook her head, "Why not just tell the whole world?!"

"Oh come on! How on earth can they hear that?"

Lightning looked at him in disbelief. "Right that's it! You're not allowed to talk anymore! You are _banned _from talking!"

"But-"

"NO! Shut up!"

They sat for a while in silence once again until Vanille spoke. "How are we going to get there though?"

Lightning turned around in her seat and looked Vanille in the eye.

"We're going to stow away on a transporter…"

"Haha. Yeah! Good one!"

"….."

"You're serious?"

Lightning nodded.

"Oh."

**So that's it! Another chapter. I want to dedicate this chapter to a guy I used to know. He commited suicide nearly a year ago now and I just wanted to… I dunno…. Do something? So apart from thanking my reviewers and especially .Angel for agreeing to Beta this…. That's it. No "humour" this time. See you next time.**

**. . .**

**Qwerty91**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey dudes and dudettes. Ready for another round of… whatever this shit is? Really? Stick it **_**where**_** you say? Well that's not very nice is it!? Fine! Just read the chapter then! (make sure you review or I'll send Shotgun guy to piss you off!!!)**

He walked down the corridor. His breathing was ragged and coming in short gasps. Limping he struggled to the end door. The swarm of activity around him was dimmed, like in a dream or like he was underwater. The shrill tones of the telephones had taken the proportions of a mouse. As he passed along someone came out of one of the cubicles, brandishing a piece of paper in his face. Irritated he shoved them aside, frowning.

Once he had made it to the door at the far end he stopped. Taking a deep breath he tapped very lightly on the door. He waited for a second and, when a reply was not forthcoming, pushed the door open. He stepped inside and shut the door. Immediately the outside noise was cut off leaving him in total silence.

The room he had entered was quite dark despite the wall of windows to his left. This probably had something to do with the fact that the walls were painted a dark, rich red.

There were hardly any furnishings around the room apart from a large desk and chair in the centre. Behind the desk, sat on the chair was a man with his head in his hands, his elbows resting on the desk. There was paper and half empty mugs littering the desk and, in the case of the papers, on the floor.

"Well?" said the man without looking up.

"Ahem… well… ah…"

"Just tell me, Smith," sighed the man looking up from his desk. His eyes were bloodshot and it looked as though he hadn't had a shave in days.

The man referred to as "Smith" gulped and shuffled his feet before speaking. "Well we have five task teams out on the streets sir…"

"Tell me something I don't already know. Have you found them yet?"

"Not exactly sir…"

"Not exactly? What does that mean? Have you found them or haven't you?"

"No sir but we do have a lead."

The man behind the desk laughed but there was no humour in it. It was more of a sharp bark than a laugh.

"Don't tell me! Let me guess… the red haired girl?"

Smith blinked. "Well… ah…. Yes sir…."

"And it took you how long to figure that out?"

Smith looked down at his shoes.

"Well we ran some facial reconstruction shots on the girl and the figure on the ground to be sure sir."

"Oh for god's sake man! Call me Laus before I go bloody crazy!"

"Yes s- Laus." He grimaced as he said it.

There was a knock on the door in the following silence. Smith waited for Laus to respond but when he didn't, turned to the door.

"Come in?" he suggested.

A young, red faced officer walked in, a scrap of paper clutched in his hands like a lifeline. He dashed across the room to Smith, eyes cast down, and handed him the paper. Smith nodded at him and he turned and scurried out of the door, shutting it behind him with a bang.

Smith turned back to Laus who didn't seem to have noticed the interruption. He unfolded the paper and read it.

"What does it say?" Laus asked him, making him jump with the break from the silence.

"Ah… we have another lead… kind of…"

"Kind of?"

Smith coughed. "Well… the sensors picked up the words 'crystal' and 'pulse' a less than an hour apart. Each occurrence was only half a mile away from the other…"

He waited expectantly.

"I want them found, Smith. I want the bastards that killed my brother and his wife."

"We'll find them sir."

**. . .**

"Once we get to Pulse they'll never find us."

"Am I allowed to speak yet?"

"Nope," grinned Vanille.

Lightning fought a smile. "Depends whether you have anything useful to say, really…"

"I'd say it was pretty useful. Officers at the end of this street."

"Fuck. Turn off. Turn _off!_"

Snow swerved and pulled into a side street. They stopped and sat in silence, Snow occasionally glancing at Lightning who had her eyes closed and her head back.

"What now?" he chanced asking.

"Just give me a second please."

"Shit we must be in trouble! You're almost being nice!"

"Shut up you absolute stupid moron."

"Oops! It's ok Vanille. I was wrong. We're going to be fine."

Vanille laughed and poked Snow in the back of the head.

Lightning rolled her eyes and undid her seatbelt. "Stay here. I can't think with you two clowns messing about." She jumped out of the car and slammed it shut. "Stay. Here," she repeated, looking at each of them in turn. "I mean it"

"No running off now Vanille!" joked Snow. His response was another poke in the back of the head.

Lightning shook her head and stalked off down the street.

**. . .**

Laus looked up as someone burst into the room closely followed by another figure. It took his eyes a second or two to focus but when they did he jumped up in surprise.

"Noctis!"

"Where… the fuck… are they?" he gasped out.

"What?"

"Where are they Laus?"

"Who?"

"DON'T GIVE ME THAT _SHIT!_"

Noctis slammed his arm down on the desk causing a hairline crack to appear on the oak surface. Now his voice was deadly quiet. "_tell me who did this. I will rip them to pieces."_

"Noctis," started his uncle, obviously flustered by his nephew's explosive entrance, "please just take a seat and I'll explain."

"I'm fine thanks."

"Please Noctis. Take a seat."

He shook his head.

Stella intervened. "Noctis? Please sit down."

"I. Can. Stand… thank you."

"Ok," sighed Laus, holding up his hands in defeat, "have it your way."

He sat down and folded his hands in front of him, resting them on the desk.

"Your parents have passed away Noctis…"

"No shit Sherlock."

Laus sighed again. "We are investigating. But as of yet we have not got very far. I'll be honest with you Noctis… it's not looking very good."

"I'll find them."

"I'm sure you will. But at least wait until after your parents' funeral."

There was a pause while Noctis studied his uncle's face. "You'll let me go?"

"Would it make any difference if I didn't?"

"No."

Laus shrugged, a slight smile on his face. "So whats the point in trying to stop you? At least this way you won't have to hide from me and I'll know you're ok."

Laus stood up and clasped Noctis' shoulder. "I believe you will find them."

Noctis nodded and said, "you need to get some sleep." He hobbled to the door and paused, looking over his shoulder. "And a shave."

**. . .**

Tap… tap… tap…

"Oh for gods sake Snow! Pack it in!"

Snow took his hand off the dashboard. "She's not coming back…" he murmured running a hand through his hair.

"Don't be silly, Snow of course she is!"

There was an awkward silence. "isn't she?"

Snow shrugged and rubbed his eyes. When he opened them he screamed in surprise. Lightning had her face pressed up against the glass signalling for Snow to open the door.

"Haha! You big girl, Snow" Vanille shrieked in between laughing fits. "You absolute girl!"

"Shut up," Snow grunted as he opened the door.

"Hey Lightning! Snow screamed like a girl!"

Lightning didn't look amused. "Lovely. That's great. Listen, we have to go now." She threw a bundle of cloth at Snow. "put that on."

"What?" he asked incredulously.

"Just put them on. I'll be back in a minute."

"Again!? Where are you going this time?"

Lightning ignored him and jogged to the end of the street and around the corner.

"What is this?" Snow mumbled.

"It's a lovely black dress for you, you big girl," squealed Vanille, pinching his cheek.

Snow didn't laugh. "No its not… it's a Caelum police force uniform…"

**. . .**

"_Vidal? Oi! Vidal!?"_

"Yo bro how did it go? Ha that rhymed! I rock!"

"Shut up you idiot. Where's Noctis?"

"erm… would a shrug be a good enough answer at this point?"

"No"

"Then I don't know."

"That's your best answer?"

Vidal held his hands up in protest. "Hey! I offered you the shrug!"

Favisor shook his head in disgust and walked off down the corridor. Vidal laughed and wandered the opposite way, checking out some girls on his way. Suddenly someone grabbed his shoulder. "I didn't do it! It was like that when I found it!"

"What?"

"Oh hey Quinn!"

"What was like it when you found it?"

"The… door?"

Quinn stood, staring at him blankly. He shook his head as though trying to dislodge a thought. "I need to ask you something."

"Dude! Can't you see I'm kinda busy?"

"You call staring at that girl's arse busy? You're more pathetic than I thought."

"_Keep your voice down! She'll hear you!"_

"Oh for-"

Quinn marched up to the girl and said, "Excuse me? Hi. I'm Quinn and my friend there is staring at your arse. Just thought I'd let you know."

The girl shot Vidal a look of deepest disgust and almost ran away from him. He tried to shout after her.

"He's joking! It's a joke! He's trying to pay me back for something! I wouldn't look at your arse! I mean I wouldn't want to look at your arse! No, I didn't mean that… it's a nice arse! But I wouldn't look at it! Even if I did want to! Aw _shit!_"

"Do I have your attention now?" asked Quinn, desperately fighting the laughter that was threatening to make him explode.

Vidal just glared at him.

"We need to find Noctis."

"What is it with everyone looking for our resident prince today? Has he killed someone?"

Quinn was still trying to hold back the laughter. "No but if he does feel like killing someone do you fancy volunteering?"

"You're just plain mean! _Mean!_"

"So do you know where he is?"

There was a pause. "… Can I interest you in a shrug?"

"_What!?"_

"Never mind."

"Look, can you stop acting like a drunken idiot for more than five minutes and help us find him? He's supposed to be addressing the council."

"When?"

"Ten minutes ago."

"riiiiggghhht. So how long do I have?"

"TEN MINUTES AGO YOU IDIOT!"

"Alright!"

Quinn ran down the corridor leaving Vidal deep in thought.

"Ok. So if I was a big, angry, socially challenged prince where would I hide?"

**I know!!! I can't help but put some humour in there! The next chapter is the funeral so I hate to think what that's going to bring! I shall have to cut out all signs of humour!**

**So how was it huh? Good? bad? Should I still stick it where you suggested at the start?**

**Y'know that was actually quite fun to write! **


	7. Chapter 7

**I am so sorry that this took so long! Without overexaggerating I have started this chapter from scratch SEVEN times. So if it isnt so good then its basically because I just haven't got the willpower to start it again for the 8th time. As bad as that sounds it's true I'm afraid!**

So anyway. I hope you enjoy. As far as it is possible to enjoy a funeral that is...

"Have you seen Noctis?" Quinn looked around the crowded room as he asked the question, his eyes flickering from spot to spot.  
Vidal shrugged. "No. Not since this morning." He shook his head. "I wouldn't worry if I were you. He will turn up by later on today."  
Quinn raised an eyebrow. "That's the problem... Will he?"  
He ignored Vidal's questioning look and stalked off down the corridor.

* * *

'This place is so peaceful... silent...' thought Vidal. Except actually, if you really listened then actually it wasn't. You could hear the stories that the church had to tell. The stories of the lives that had played out within its walls. Of the lives lived around it. Hundreds of years. Thousands of lives.

Softly, he padded up the aisle, past the rows and rows of benches. Walking slowly, he kept his head bowed, respecting not only the people who had spent large portions of their lives here, but also the church itself. He did not do so for the religion as, whilst he respected others' beliefs, he did not believe.  
When he reached the altar he knealt, head still bowed. He stayed like that for a moment before rising to look at the huge, leatherbound book resting on a pedastal. Gingerly, he reached his hand out and began turning the pages. He knew what he was looking for. He had seen it enough times after all. Eventually he came across it.

Unknown white male. Died 12.12.231cc  
Unknown white female. Died 13.12.231cc

His parents.  
His mother.  
His father.

His mum and dad.

* * *

Favisor sat, leant forwards on a stool. His head resting in his hands. He was deep in thought. If he was honest he didn't quite know why. But he felt... he felt as though he had to. He had to get everything straight in his head.  
At least that was what he was telling himself anyway.  
He thought of when he had first arrived within the household. He had been a common servant. Admittedly a common servant with excellent combat skills. Eventually, after receiving so much praise from his master at the time (he himself had been in the army which was how he had found that he took to weapons well), he had enrolled in the king's armed forces. He smiled slightly as he remembered the times he had had whilst serving. There had been some hard times but, after all, it was the armed forces. At the end of the day he was there to fight. Not to see the sights.  
Then his mind passed on to his dishonourable discharge. The less he thought about that, the better. He did, however, think of the pivotal moment which had come as a direct consequence of the discharge, where he had come to the castle, to be officially dismissed by the king, as was custom. It was around the time when the queen had been expecting and was very nearly due. Whilst he was waiting she had gone into labour and he had helped her up to the hospital wing in the palace, almost carrying her. That was what he had found he liked most about Noctis' mother, in the years that followed. She did not think of herself as more important than anyone else. And it was genuine. If someone had told her that she was more important she would have been genuinely surprised. He remembered, with a sad laugh, what she had said to him that day;  
"Mind your bloody back, won't you!?"  
All night he had stood outside. All night. Other guards had come and gone but he had stayed.  
When the king had emerged hours later he had only had words of gratitude for Favisor. He had oferred him the job of bodyguard to his son and heir right there on the spot. Needless to say he had taken it.

Through the following years Favisor had looked out for Noctis. Not only had he been his bodyguard but also his friend and 'teacher'. He chuckled as he remembered his methods of teaching. Mostly involving listening to Noctis explain topics and subjects that he had read and learnt about. Most of the time he didnt have a clue about what Noctis was talking about, but he felt proud anyway.

He sat, frozen like a statue in his chair. The king and queen had given him a home, a job and the best group of friends he could hope for.

And now they were gone.

* * * * *

"Stella?"  
Stella turned at the sound of her name to see Quinn jogging up to her in a suit.  
"Have you seen Noctis?" he asked, slightly out of breath.  
"No. I haven't" she replied, frowning, "I thought he was with you?"  
Quinn shuffled his feet. "Well he was earlier... but went for a walk."  
"We have got to find him then." she said, walking off.  
"Really?" muttered Quinn. "Never would have thought that. Thanks for the help."

* * * * *

The congregation of people were assembled around the church grounds. Whilst Vidal recognised and acknowledged a few people there were a great number who he had never seen in his life. He wondered how many had actually known Noctis' parents. He suspected that alot had come as it was some sort of 'event'. Social interactions between the nobility made him sick. How could a funeral be used as a day out!? He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. He chose to stare, instead, at the two, pure white coffins, lying side by side.

After the vicar had said a few short words he, Favisor and Quinn, aswell as some others, stepped forwards to bear the coffins. Usually Noctis would be one of the bearers but as he was not there his place was taken by someone who Vidal did not even recognize.  
Although the steps they took were slow, small and steady Quinn's mind was racing. It was all he could do to concentrate just enough to not walk too quickly. He owed them that much that was for sure.  
But where the hell was Noctis!? He should have been directly in front of him - head of the procession. Sure Noctis had never really cared much for what people thought of him. He had openly declared what he thought of the 'rich, snobby idiots' as he had referred to them as. But surely he would make an appearance at his own parents' funeral? If only for the sake of his parents.

They came to a halt parallel to the two graves. As the coffins were lowered the vicar spoke a few words.

You could see the crowd of people from here. All dressed to impress. They made him sick. He watched through narrowed eyes as they all shifted as they stood watching his parents' be lowered into the earth. This would be a good subject of conversation for them at their pathetic parties for months to come, surely.  
He stood, partly hidden in the gloom of a tree, leaning against the trunk. He watched as his uncle stood and gave what can only be described as a speech. From this distance he couldnt hear what was being said. Which was probably a good thing really. Once Laus had finished the crowd began to disperse. Noctis remained leaning against his tree.

"Wondered where you had got to, mate."  
Noctis didn't turn around and took a second or two to answer.  
"Did you?"  
"Yeah..."  
He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around to see Vidal with Quinn and Favisor just behind him.  
"We're gonna do it," he said, almost in a whisper, the tears streaming down his face.

"We're going to find the bastards who did this."

He looked at each of them in turn and walked over to the fresh graves of his parents.

"And when we find them they are going to wish we never had."

He stood between the two graves.

"Bye Mum... Bye Dad..."

**  
Look!!! No humour! :D  
Well... I know it kinda sucked but like I said - if I have to do it again then I will end up breaking something. Most likely someone's head. Any offers?**

Seriously though I really hope it was effective and the story starts in earnest from this point onwards.

As always thanks go to my beautiful reviewers as, without them, you wouldn't be reading this now! So blame them!

Anyway I hope you all have a very merry christmas and a happy new year! Unless you are reading this in the middle of June of course... In which case I hope it is alot bloody warmer than it is now!!!

Until next time,

qwerty91


	8. Chapter 8

**I randomly found this! Wrote it aaages ago! Just didn't think to actually share it with you guys! XD ….I suck.**  
**As per usual – Hope you enjoy and leave some comments. Just nothing hurtful or I'll make Noctis die in the next chapter. I know you all love him!**

**As Shakespeare once said; **

**"Let's do this shit!"**

**…**

"You're needed in the resource truck."  
The two men looked up at the figure stood before them. If they hadn't been wearing helmets then you would have been able to see the leering expression they had on their faces.  
"Since when did they make officers so hot?"  
The woman stood there silently, clad in an officer's uniform complete with helmet.  
"How about we go for drink sometime?" The other one asked her, nudging his partner.  
Again there was silence.  
Still the men persisted.  
"Tell you what, darling. Here's my number. You make sure to give me a call yeah?"  
This time the figure reached out, took the piece of paper and made a show out of ripping it into the tiniest pieces possible. After a while she asked one of the men if they had a lighter. When he produced one from his pocket she burnt the scraps and dropped the ashes on the floor.

"I am to escort you to the resource truck."  
The icy edge in her tone told the guards she was not amused.

. . .

Snow sat up at a knock on the door and cautiously opened it.  
"Lightning! You were supposed to bring them back conscious!"  
"Yeah well…" she shrugged heaving the limp bodies into the truck. "They were idiots anyway." She picked up one of their shoes which had fallen off and carefully dropped it on the bigger one's head.  
Vanille hopped out, following Snow. Then Lighting shut the truck, locked it and then dropped the key down the drain.  
"No going back now, huh?" sighed Snow. "Aw crap I left my gloves in there!"  
"Quit whining."  
"But my gloves!"  
Lightning looked at him in disbelief, fists clenching and unclenching by her side.  
"Look at the bigger picture here!"  
"You're right, I'm sorry."  
They began walking back to where Lightning had encountered the two guards. She caught Vanille's eye and tossed her a small bundle. She unwrapped them, saw it was Snow's gloves and grinned.  
She winked at Lightning and dropped them into a waste bin they passed.

"They were disgusting gloves anyway, Snow"

. . .

"If you don't stop tapping your foot I promise you I will rip it off."  
"We've been waiting for hours though!" Vidal whined, folding his arms like a child.  
"Actually we have been waiting for all of about…. Five minutes."  
"Same difference," was the mumbled reply.  
"We've got to let Noctis say goodbye to his sweetheart remember?"  
"Oh yeah! I can tell you how that will go!"  
"Please don't."  
"He will be like 'Seeya.' And she will be like, 'OOOH I love you so much!' and he will be like 'I know' and she will be like 'I'm so happy we're going to be married' and he will be like 'yeah' and then-"  
"Seriously," interrupted Favisor, cracking his knuckles, "Is it absolutely necessary that he has to live? He's so irritating!"  
"Unfortunately Noctis would notice."  
"Are you sure? We could always buy one of those yapping puppy toy things."  
Vidal stood up to argue and was instantly pinned to the wall as Noctis opened the door, walking in.  
He tossed a set of keys to Quinn as he sat down.  
"New car." He stated as he nodded towards Quinn.  
"Dude… your fiancée sure knows how to bribe you with leaving gifts…"  
"What do you mean?" he asked as he started to tie his boots.  
"Well… we thought you were saying goodbye to Stella?" questioned Quinn.  
"Oh right… yeah… not so much…" Noctis mumbled back, averting his eyes and running his hands through his hair.  
"You aren't going to?"  
"Well… she's busy."  
"Dude," laughed Vidal, "she's a princess! She does fuck all except look pretty! Which," he added with a grin, "she does an excellent job of might I add!?"  
He grinned and looked around at the others expecting a laugh out of them.  
"Pathetic."  
"Idiot"  
"That's my fiancée…"  
"Aw c'mon! That was a-!"  
Favisor extended a leg, kicking Vidal's chair over. Amidst the cries of "You bastard." he asked, "So what's with the new car?"  
"Well the old one was reduced to scrap in the fire."  
There was an awkward silence that followed in which Noctis sighed and rubbed his face.  
"Listen guys. It happened and it's done with. My parents are dead and being a miserable git isn't going to bring them back so I just need to get on with it. I'm not going to flip out every time it's mentioned…"  
There was another pause before Vidal said, "And you won't be upset?"  
"No."  
Another pause.  
"And you won't be quiet?"  
"No more than usual."  
"And you won't hit me if I mention it?"  
"Well I can't promise that." He said, straightfaced as he stood up, heading for the door. "Come on."  
They stood up to follow him but Vidal hung back.  
"He was kidding right? Guys? He was kidding wasn't he?"  
He frowned.  
"Yeah… he must have been…"

. . .

"Sit down all of you. Hands in front."  
"Hands where we can see them!"  
"I need to pee!"  
"Shush!"  
"I need to go!"  
The prisoners wearily raised their heads to watch the spectacle unfold.  
"I swear I'm gonna burst!"  
"Oh screw this!"  
Lightning turned to the prisoners and held up her hands.  
"Right. We're stealing this carrier so if you all want to get off and go back to your families then that's fine by us!"  
No one moved.  
"Well… go on then!"  
Still no one moved.  
"Seriously. We aren't testing you! You're free to go."  
Still nobody moved. Vanille squealed.  
Spinning around Lightning saw a guard with his gun pressed to her Vanille's temple. Her eyes flickered around the cramped area, plans forming.  
"Who the fuck are you guys!?" the guard yelled.  
Although he couldn't see it due to the helmet Lightning had broken into a smile.  
Before she could answer the guard dropped to the floor. Snow ducked in, rubbing his fist.  
"Damn helmets."  
Lightning shrugged and said, "See? We're bad guys! Piss off!"  
This time the prisoners seemed to get the message and hurriedly ran out of the transporter.  
"Right, Vanille get to the cockpit. Vanille? Where are you!?"  
"She went to pee." Snow sighed.  
"Im right here!"  
"Ok you go to the cockpit and start her up. Input the co-ordinates but wait for the other transporters to move."  
Snow moved over to the large double sliding doors at the far end of the transporter.  
"Erm Lightning?"  
Lightning looked up from the panel she was adjusting, flicking her hair out of her eyes.  
"What's wrong?"  
"We have a problem..."

**Bit shorter than I originally planned but that seemed like a good place to end it.**  
**ZOMG FFXIII was awesome! I completed it in 58 hours 35 minutes. Took me 6 days. I'm just that good! Or that sad. Take your pic!**

**Hope is such a whiney bitch! There. Said it.**

**So now I have to run away from all the Hope fangirls (and boys). Seeya next time!**

**Ooh I can reply to reviews now! BOOYAH!**

**BYE!**

**Qwerty91**

**…**

**(Random quote courtesy of Russell Howard – "C'mawn! Let's go paint an elephant with TipEx! C'mawn!")**


	9. Chapter 9

**So here we go! Chapter 9! And I've gone over 50 reviews! (Not many I know but, for me, that's great!) Thanks to absolutely everyone who has reviewed.**

**Also thanks to everyone who has added this to their favourites and to their alerts. Just as nice as a review, getting that notification message. I know you like it too! **

**So. On with the story? Do people even read this part?**

"Just drive the damn thing!"  
"Fly."  
There was a pause as Lightning tried to focus on what had just been said. "What?"  
"Fly. Not drive."  
She sighed and clutched at her head.  
"Just do it."  
Snow stumbled forwards almost knocking her over as bullets hammered into the side of the transporter. The sound resonated within the cramped chamber.  
"Now would be a good time, Vanille!"  
"Alright I'm doing it!" she replied. The ship lurched to the side, almost rolled and then spun round.  
"Fuck! I thought you said you could fly this damn thing!?"  
"I can." She grunted, trying to keep it under control. "I can fly."

. . . . .

"We can't fly you idiot."  
Quinn stood, eyes closed, fists clenched by his side.  
"Why not," Vidal challenged him. "What else are we supposed to do? We have no idea who, or where they are!"  
"They're from Pulse."  
"Excuse me?"  
"Pulse. The lower world." Noctis confirmed, nodding his head as they walked along.  
"Yes I know that!" Vidal shook his head. "You think I'm some kind of idiot?"  
Favisor coughed.  
"I know about Pulse," Vidal continued, choosing to ignore Favisor. "The evil lands. The death trap. The lower regions."  
"You're gonna have to worry about your own lower regions if you don't quit whining in a minute." Favisor growled.  
Before Vidal could retaliate Noctis stepped in.  
"So we fly. To Pulse."

"So we have to fly the whole way?" Snow groaned as he clutched his stomach, rocking with the swaying motion of the ship.  
"Yep!" grinned Vanille. "It'll be great!"  
Snow heaved after a particularly aggressive lurch of the ship.  
"How will it be!?"  
"Because I'm driving!"  
"Flying" Lightning corrected.  
"Same difference."  
Lightning managed to get to the back of the transporter by clinging to the walls and benches. As she reached the back she stretched and sighed.  
"Wonder how Lebreau, Gadot and Marqui are doing," Snow murmured quietly, to her left. His eyes were focused on his feet. Lightning clapped him on the shoulder and managed a smile.

"I'm sure they will be fine."

. . . . .

"She'll be fine."

Favisor shook his head. "I still think you should have at least let her know that you were leaving."

"She'll get the message."

"You left a _message_!?"

Noctis stopped walking and they followed suit.

"Actually… No I didn't."

"You _didn't leave a message!?"_

Noctis laughed. "You can't act surprised at both! You have to pick one!"

Quinn ran his hands through his hair.

"Mate… she's your fiancée. You should have spoken to her about this."

"Why?"

It was Quinn's turn to laugh this time. "You're hopeless."

Noctis shrugged and resumed walking. "It's not like we're married."

Vidal laughed this time. "You do realise that being engaged usually results in marriage, right?"

Noctis sighed and shook his head wearily.

They came to a crossroads and paused, looking around.

"So where are we ACTUALLY going?" Vidal asked, hands held up questioningly.

. . . . .

"You do know the way, right?"

Lightning had chosen to stand rather than sit. At least that way she had more control over her legs and was less likely to roll onto the floor during any particularly wild corners.

"This is fun! I should definitely do this more often!"

"We'll put that on the list of things we will never do." The ship lurched again. "Please just land this can of crap!"

"Alright! Let me just-"

"No! Just land it right now!"

Snow stumbled out of the bathroom, clutching his stomach. Another bump of the transporter sent him headfirst into the wall. His cursing was drowned out by the sudden screeching of the engine.

"What's that!?" Lightning yelled over the noise.

"Erm… I'm landing?"

"No! Make it stop!"

"I can't! It's seized up."

The nose of the ship slowly tipped forwards. Lightning grabbed Vanille and attempted to lodge both of them between the seats. The ship gave another screech and plummeted. Snow was thrown fully off his feet and crashed into the back seats, desperately scrabbling for something to hold on to. Vanille managed to grab on to the collar of his jacket as he bounced off the seat. She desperately held on as they hit the treeline, the cabin shaking furiously as they crashed through the foliage. Lightning relaxed her legs slightly in an attempt to lessen the impact on the rest of her body. It made little difference.

Eventually they began to slow, shuddering to a halt along the forest floor. Shakily Lightning got to her feet, holding on to prevent her from collapsing. She gazed around the destroyed cabin as though she were drugged. She stood staring at the smashed in windscreen for a while, a confused look on her face. Slowly she started to stagger and drag her way over. She suddenly stopped, a look of fear etched on her face as she looked out upon the sheer drop. It was then that she realised the whole ship was rocking slowly. Teetering on the edge of a cliff.

"Don't. Move." She said, slowly turning around. Vanille and Snow saw the look on her face and stopped from picking themselves up from the floor.

Lightning managed to stay calm as she explained the situation to them. As she spoke their faces grew more and more terrified.

"So no sudden movements."

No sooner had the words left her mouth than the transporter gave a loud screech and started to pitch.

"Run!"

They scrambled toward the opposite end of the cabin, which was becoming steeper and steeper as they went, jumping over dislodged objects and ducking under pipes.

Snow cleared the end of the transporter first, rolling off the end and falling into the shredded forest floor.

Lightning followed, rolling as she landed into a standing position. She swung round, arms outstretched ready to catch Vanille.

Just as she reached the door of the cab and was desperately trying to clamber over the edge there was a crunching sound and she slipped a couple of inches.

"Vanille!"

They both began to run towards the edge of the cliff as the ship dropped with frightening speed. Vanille disappeared having fallen backwards.

Snow roared as he put on a burst of speed but was tackled to the ground by Lightning, knocking the wind out of him.

"NO!"

He tried to fight her off but she fought back, pinning him down with her body.

"She's gone, Snow," she trembled as she spoke, tears streaming down her face. "She's fucking gone..."

They lay there, panting.

Lightning with tears streaming down her face.

Snow just lying there in shock.

. . . . .

"Noctis?"

They all stood there sheepishly apart from Noctis who replied with a "Yeah?"

Stella stood in the middle of the road, wringing her hands anxiously.

"Where are you going?" she asked, frowning.

Vidal shuffled his feet as Quinn inched toward Noctis.

"Erm… mate?" he whispered. "We're just going to-"

"Stay," Stella commanded.

"…Or that…" murmured Quinn as he retreated a safe distance back to where the other two were stood.

She stepped toward Noctis slowly, watching his passive face the whole time.

"Where are you going?"

"There is something I have to see to." He replied simply, as thought he were commenting on the weather.

She walked away as though deep in thought and turned slowly. Whatever she was about to say next was lost in the hail of bullets and as Noctis dived toward her. She went limp as he grabbed her and ran. He turned and saw his friends running toward him to help.

"Run you fucking idiots!"

As if in slow motion he saw Vidal's legs buckle as his hand came up to his shoulder. By the time Favisor had grabbed him that side of his shirt was already stained with blood.

They crashed behind the cover of a car, out of breath as the bullets continued pounding into the bodywork.

**Yeah I'm evil. Get over it. XD**

**Was going to leave it after The Vanille Incident but decided otherwise. Because I originally planned for the part after too, then wondered if I should just leave it at The Vanille Incident. Then I realised that I was arguing with myself.**

**So then I told myself to shut up. Then realised I was still arguing with myself.**

**Sometimes it's best to just walk away. ;)**

**As you can probably see, I stole the cliff part from Uncharted 2 – Amongst Thieves. Just consider yourself lucky that I didn't have Noctis saying **

"**Seems like I am always saving your arse." **

**With Stella replying by saying**

"**Yeah, but it's an ass worth saving!"**

**That game has so many brilliant quotes!**

**So yeah. I updated pretty quickly for a change! May have to leave it for a while now, just to annoy you. What!? I'm only human.**

**As usual I very much appreciate your feedback! Keep it coming!**

**See you next time!**

**Qwerty91**

…


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